The company eventually bought a majority stake in the Wuxi Brewery

outside Shanghai. In this situation, the company took the capacity and built a local brand with it, using the local connections in distribution and marketing. The company then built a brewery in Suzhou, leveraging the ability of the landlord to deal with the finer points of Chinese bureaucracy. With this brewery, Lion Nathan had full autonomy, something that the company thought was important for strategic reasons. It had market access at this point, so had less need for a Chinese strategic partner; it made more sense to go solo having established itself. This subsidiary had capacity, but lacked an international brand (Lion Nathan's biggest brand being the relatively obscure Steinlager. Normally foreign firms entering the Chinese market brought at least one premium international brand with them.

2. There are a few different types of partnerships that Lion Nathan could...
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